


Giveth and Taketh Away

by sunkelles



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Wally Gets His Speed, Wally centric, and then loses it, but there a lot of emotional ramifications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 14:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8493754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: "Do you wish to be a speedster, Wally West?" Alchemy asks. 
"More than anything," Wally says.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i saw the screencaps for season 3 episode 6 and then read an article about wally going villain (sure jan) and then this happened
> 
> also the random girls ARE a couple and i had to sneak them in because i can't write a 5k with no wlw i just can't. my entire world would fall apart okay.

Wally West dreams of running. He dreams of running so fast the world blurs around him and the wind whistles in his ears. He dreams that he runs so fast lightning crackles behind him. He dreams a world where he's the Flash.   
  
"Kid Flash," he can hear Iris say affectionately.   
  
As always, Wally wakes up. He is not the Flash, not even Kid Flash. Wally West is no speedster. He drags himself out of bed and gets in his car. He drives about ten miles per hour over the speed limit on his way to Central City College, or C cubed as the students call it, and he walks a normal human speed on his way to classes. 

 

 

  
He gets held up in the engineering building for hours. This isn't an outlier or anything. He's an engineering major, and he spends way longer than he'd like to in this damn hall. Sometimes he feels like he lives here, and not at his dad's house. He finally gets to leave a little after one thirty, and he walks out to the parking lot.   
  
He can see two girls walking together, holding close for dear life. He can't tell if they're a couple or just being cautious. Another girl almost comes down the path that he's walking on, but then turns away when she sees him. He doesn't know if that's a race thing or just because it's late at night. He tries to ignore it either way.

He checks his phone, and shoots Joe a quick text saying that yes, he’s fine, and yes, he’s on his way home now. He keeps walking through the ill-lit part of campus and finally finds himself in the parking lot. It’s well-lit there, but it still feels really fucking creepy at this time of night. A man in billowy robes and a freaky mask appears in front of him.  
  
"Holy shit," Wally says, stepping backwards. He really hopes that those girls got where they were going safely, because this dude looks like a supervillain. Wally didn't pay much attention in history class, but he remembers those weird looking plague doctors, the ones that wore the bird masks and watched people die. Would a nice, normal person wear a mask like that? He doesn't think so.   
  
"Hello, Wally West," he says, and his voice fucking echoes. They’re in a parking lot in the flat part of Missouri, and his voice _echoes._ What the hell? And how does this guy know his name?   
  
"Who are you?" Wally demands.   
  
"My name is Alchemy," the man says.   
  
"You're the one who's been making metas," Wally says. Team Flash doesn’t keep him updated on everything that they know. He's the _baby_ there, which he finds ridiculous. He’s nineteen years old, and they're always trying to protect him rather than let him help. He catches bits and pieces though, and he knows that much.   
  
"I have," Alchemy says, "I help people live up to their full potential."   
  
"What do you want?" Wally asks. He wants it to sound nonchalant, maybe a little combative. Instead, it sounds eager, like a little kid begging their parents for ice cream. Wally curses himself. He doesn’t want to sound excited by the prospect, but he does.  
  
"There is another timeline," he says, "one where things turned out differently. You were the Flash there, Wally West." His dreams flood back to him, and suddenly he can almost see that world again, one where he got his powers drag racing and took up crime fighting with his sister.   
  
"Oh my god," Wally says. All he's wanted for months, for his whole life maybe, was to be a speedster. He remembers the sensation of the wind against his face, of his feet running over the ground, the lightning crackling behind him, and running so fast that the world around him blurs. He wants that again. He wants that _desperately_.   
  
"Do you wish to be a speedster, Wally West?" Alchemy asks.   
  
"More than anything," Wally says. He knows this might be stupid, but god, he _wants_ this. He wants his speed back more than anything else. Alchemy takes an odd, sparkly stone out of his robes. The stone glows blue, and then a bolt of energy shoots out. It hits his chest, and Wally’s vision goes black.

  
  
  
  
He wakes up in a bed, and clutches at the sheets as he sits up.   
  
"Wally," Joe says. Wally sighs in relief, but then he starts to notice how sore he is. He’s a little less relieved after that.  
  
"Oh god," Wally says, "my head hurts." Joe, Iris and Barry are all sitting by his bedside.   
  
"How did I get here?" Wally asks. His memory is a bit fuzzy, but the last thing that he remembers is- is Alchemy hitting him with a bolt of energy in his school parking lot. He promised that he could make him a speedster.   
  
"I got worried when you didn’t come home an hour after saying you would. We uh, we found you in the parking lot," Joe says, "You've been knocked out for a week, Wally."   
  
"A week?" Wally demands.   
  
"According to your vitals," Barry says, "well." Joe doesn't look pleased.   
  
"Caitlin says you're a speedster," Iris says, a smile on her face.   
  
"Iris," their dad says.   
  
"What," she says, "he was gonna find out eventually." Joe sighs in frustration.   
  
"What happened, Wally?" Barry asks. His dad would be pissed that he said he wanted powers. The rest of Team Flash would be pissed about what happened with Alchemy. They would think that he was being reckless.   
  
"I dunno," Wally says, "I just- I remember getting to the parking lot, then nothing. I guess something knocked me out?” He doesn’t really _mean_ to lie, but he knows how his dad feels about him being reckless, and he knows that Alchemy is supposed to be a bad guy. He probably shouldn’t tell his overprotective family that he told a supervillain to give him powers. He starts bouncing his leg nervously, and it feels like it’s _vibrating._  
  
"Wally, is your leg-" Wally shoots up, and a second later he's standing on the opposite side of the room.   
  
"You _are_ a speedster," Joe says, "damn it. Can't I have one kid that's not a speedster?" Iris glares.   
  
"Thanks dad," she says, rolling her eyes, "way to make a girl feel loved."   
  
"Son," he says, "I meant one son, Iris."   
  
"Sure you did," Iris says, but it's teasing. God, Wally _loves_ this. He wishes that he could have always had it. He also wishes that his mom were here, which opens up another fresh set of feelings that he's not ready to deal with yet. Cisco comes into the room, biting into a pastel purple piece of licorice.

Cisco says, “You’re up! How are you liking living la vida speedster?”

“It’s fantastic,” Wally says, honestly, “I was gonna go for a run right now.” Cisco smiles.

“Ah, a speedster’s first run,” he says, “it’s such an exciting thing, like the first time someone watches Star Wars.” Wally sends him a weird look.

“I think this is a bit bigger than that,” Wally says, “wouldn’t it be more like the first time you vibed?” Cisco looks taken aback for a moment, like he’s reliving a bad memory. Then he smiles widely to cover it up.

“Nah,” he says, “my first time watching Star Wars? That was way bigger than that.”  
  
"Wait," Barry says, "Caitlin had a ton of tests she wanted to run first." Wally grimaces. Then, he realizes that he can use this to his advantage. There’s something that he wants from Cisco, and this might be the only leverage he’s going to get.  
  
"If I let her run the tests, will you open a breach?" Wally asks.   
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Barry asks.   
  
"I want to tell Jesse," he says, grin widening.   
  
"We can't just go to earth 2 whenever," Cisco says, "I'm pretty sure that'll fuck up the time-space continuum or something."  
  
"We can't fuck it up worse than Barry has," Wally says. Cisco looks contemplative at that.   
  
"Hey," Barry says, sounding offended. Which is rich, because Wally didn't say anything that wasn't true.  
  
"You know," Cisco says, ignoring Barry's interjection, "you're right. I'm gonna help you see your girlfriend."   
  
"She's not my girlfriend," Wally says, though he's not really sure himself.   
  
"She's your girlfriend, man," Cisco says, "trust me here. You don't want to turn a girl like that down." Wally nods. He doesn't want to turn Jesse down, not really. He's just still nervous about the dimensional gap. 

“I’ll go find Caitlin,” Iris says as she walks out of the room.

“I’ve gotta go back to work,” Joe says. He puts a hand on Barry’s shoulder.

“Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” he says. Barry nods, and Joe walks towards the door.

“I can hear you, you know,” Wally says.

“You were supposed to!” Joe calls back from outside the room. Wally laughs, and Caitlin and Iris peak their heads inside.

“Are you ready to run those tests?” Caitlin asks.

“Definitely,” Wally says enthusiastically. This is the one and only time that he has ever been excited for a test.

 

 

They run the tests, and everything is completely normal for a new speedster.

“You’re perfectly fine, Wally,” Caitlin says. Her voice sounds a little strained, but Wally chalks that up to stress. He turns over to Cisco.

“Can you open the breach now?” Wally asks.

“Sure thing,” Cisco says. They get everything ready. Cisco puts on the goggles and the gloves, and then he rips a hole in the fabric of space so that Wally can go tell Jesse he's a speedster. 

  
Wally rushes through the breach, and finds himself in S.T.A.R. Labs on the other side. He sees Jesse the moment that he gets there, which is incredibly convenient. Wally was a little worried he’d have to search for a while. She looks shocked, but he hopes that’s a good thing. That would be a good thing, right?  
  
"Wally?" She asks. He grins as he sees her.   
  
"What are you doing here?" she asks. He feels his face fall.   
  
"No, no," she says, her face lighting up, "I'm thrilled to see you. I'm just confused." He runs as fast as he can, and he takes a bouquet of flowers from the shop across the street. He leaves a five dollar bill, and hopes it's enough to pay for it. He appears in the room again, and Jesse smiles widely.   
  
"You're a speedster," she says. He thinks about calling her out on stating the obvious, but he’s just too _excited_. He’s positively vibrating from it.  
  
"Sure am," he says.   
  
"And you brought me flowers," she says.  
  
"Was that too much?" He says, nervously, "I can take them back." Jesse scoops them up and takes a whiff.   
  
"I love them," she says. The silence is defeating, and probably feels longer than it is since they're both speedsters. She sets the flowers down on the cabinet.  
  
"I bet you're slower than me,” she says, a grin spreading across her face.

"No," he says, "no way, Jess."   
  
She grins and says, "Wanna test it?"   
  
So they race from Central City to Keystone, and Wally loses spectacularly, but he chalks it up to inexperience. He's not slower than his almost girlfriend from another earth. He just doesn't know how to do this as well as she does. They keep running, and they go everywhere from Gotham to Vlatvia to Bialyia. Wally had never been outside the Midwest before this morning, and now he's gone to another earth and traveled all over it. They stop for dinner in Prague, and it's kind of amazing. They're about to run to China, but then Wally's phone rings. 

Wow, that’s nice to know that cellphones work trans-dimensionally. He can get into contact with Jesse a lot easier now. He picks it up. 

"Hey," he says. His dad doesn't waste any time on small talk. 

"It’s midnight here,” Joe says, “and I know you have a seven thirty class tomorrow.” He takes the phone off of his ear so he can curse in peace.

“Shit,” Wally mutters.

“What is it?” Jesse asks.

“I’ve gotta get back to earth 1,” he says.

“Oh,” she says, sounding disappointed, “alright.”  
  
“Normal cellphones work across earths,” Wally says, “I’ll call you.”

“You don’t have my number,” Jesse says. Wally hands her his phone, and she puts her name in with a lightning emoji beside it.

“Cute,” he says, and he means it. They grab hands again, and run back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

“Here,” Wally texts.

"You’re calling me, right?” Jesse asks.  

"Yeah," Wally says, grinning, "definitely." Jesse kisses him, right on the lips, and Wally lifts her up, twirls her around a little.

"That's new," she says, a little breathless.

"Uh," he says, "yeah. A lot's new." Then, a breach opens up right in front of him.

“That was quick,” Wally says. Jesse laughs.

“Says the speedster,” she says. He shrugs. He’s pumped for this, but he’s not totally used to it yet.

“Bye Jess,” he says.

“See you later,” Jesse says, which is _much_ better than goodbye. Then, Wally runs into the breach. This is a terrible idea, because he speeds into the wall once he gets to earth one. Which hurts, _a lot_.

“You’ve gotta be more careful, man,” Barry says. Cisco laughs.

“Thanks for staying so late for me,” he says, “I appreciate it.”

 “Dude, I was gonna be here this late anyways,” Cisco says, and Wally thanks him _again_. Then he runs back home, and tells his dad goodnight before he falls into bed.

 

He runs to campus the next morning, and only stops once he gets to his first class. He never wants to stop running, to be honest. It makes him feel alive in a way that nothing else does. He goes to class, and wishes that he could just ditch and keep running, but he puts his butt in the chair and listens to the lectures, because he knows that it's important. He missed a week of class, and he has a hard enough major that it's going to be hell to make it all up. 

 

Wally comes out of the engineering building at two o clock in the morning this time, because he’s trying to get all of his makeup work done and engineering is hard and he hates himself. Why did he chose this major again? He loves it, but _still._ It’s way too much work. It’s dark as fuck, and the lighting on this side of campus is shitty. He understands why so many of the kids just end up crashing on the couches at night, especially the girls.

Wally is a speedster now though, so even if someone were to want to attack him, he’d be able to get away easily enough. Hell, he could _fight_ them. He could fight them and win. The thought’s a little exhilarating. He can’t wait until he gets to start training and fighting crime. The city will be so much better off with two speedsters instead of one. Wally keeps walking, and a robed man appears in the dimly lit alley between two halls. It takes him a moment to realize who it is.   
  
“Alchemy?” Wally asks. The masked man doesn’t say anything, so Wally sort of starts babbling.

“Like, I appreciate what you did for me,” Wally says, “but I kind of thought we’d be done after that. What else is there to talk about?” Wally has his superspeed. What else could Alchemy want?

“I gave you a great gift, Wally West,” Alchemy says, “it’s time you repaid the favor.” Oh god, Wally owes a supervillain a solid. He’s trying not to freak out about that. He takes a deep breath.

“What do you want?” Wally asks. He’s trying to keep calm. Whatever Alchemy wants, it’s probably nothing major. Other than making metas, he hasn’t heard anything about the guy. He doesn’t have a reputation. Wally is trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Okay look,” Wally says, “if you’re not gonna tell me what you want, I’m just gonna go.” He gestures awkwardly in the direction he’s going to go, and he’s just about to run. Then Alchemy takes out his magic glowing rock. Wally tries to run, but he finds himself moving a normal, human speed. Alchemy grabs him by the collar.

“What the hell?” Wally says, and he can feel the fear pooling in his belly. He hasn’t been this afraid since Zoom took him. He’d thought that he was never going to feel that helpless again.

"You will stay when I call for you," Alchemy says, "or I will take my gift away." Alchemy lets go of his collar, confident that Wally won’t be able bolt and won't even try. Wally stands in the alleyway, clenching his fists. He doesn't know what to do. Hell, he doesn’t even know what this guy _wants_ from him.

Alchemy puts his stone away, and Wally feels strong again. He vibrates his hand, just to make sure that he still can.

“Now we can speak civilly,” Alchemy says. Wally doesn’t know if he could speed away fast enough. He does know that Alchemy knows his name, though, and that he knows where he goes to school. Alchemy would be able to find him again later, even if he did get away. Wally steels his nerves, and forces himself not to run.

“Yeah,” Wally says, “ _civil_. I don’t think you’re acting very civil here.” Alchemy laughs.

“I made you,” he says, “you belong to me. I can treat you how I want.”    
  
"First of all," Wally says, anger bubbling inside of him, "I belong to _me_. Not some asshole dressed up like Kylo Ren." Alchemy's laugh comes out metallic and distorted.   
  
"Say what you want," Alchemy says, "but you said you would give anything to be a speedster. I can take that away from you, _permanently_."   
  
"Permanently?" Wally says, voice sounding small and scarred, even to his own ears. He already saw what that stone could do, but he thought it was just _repressing_ his powers. He didn’t think that it was taking them away.  
  
"Of course," Alchemy says, "do you think I give gifts freely?"   
  
"What do you want?" Wally says. Alchemy laughs, and it echoes through the air. It’s fucking creepy.  
  
"I'm glad you're seeing reason," he says.   
  
"What. Do. You. Want?" Wally demands.   
  
"I want information on the Flash,” he says.

“Like his name?” Wally asks. He already knows he isn’t telling this guy shit, but he wants to know what he's asking for at least. There's a tiny piece of him that hopes he just wants something tiny, something that's common knowledge. Wally doesn't want to give up his powers. 

“I already know his name,” Alchemy says, “you think I know _you_ and not Barry Allen?” Wally feels shivers run down his spine.

“Then what do you want to know?” Wally asks.

"Everything," Alchemy says, "whatever they're working on, what they have done in the past. I want a constant stream of information." 

“You want a mole,” Wally says hollowly. _Definitely_ not insignificant info. 

“You could say that,” Alchemy says, “I want a little bit _more_ than that. You will join me when the time comes, and you will not question what I ask you to do.” Wally can feel his blood _boiling._

“Uh, yeah,” Wally says, laughing nervously, “that ain’t happening.”  Alchemy has been making metas that have been attacking Central City, attacking the Flash. And now he wants Wally to betray his friends, his _family_ for him. Wally has never been angrier in his life. He wants to help people, not hurt them. And he would _never_ betray the people that he cares about, even for these powers.

“You can fuck yourself,” Wally says. Alchemy looks unimpressed.  
  
"You don't know what the word _anything_ means," he says, "do you, West?"

 "What?" Wally says. 

"You said you wanted to be a speedster more than anything," he says, "if that was true, then you would do whatever I asked." He doesn’t want to lose his powers, of course not, but there are lines he won't cross. And Alchemy is demanding that he cross  _all_ of them.   
  
"I won't betray the Flash," Wally says.   
  
"Is that your final answer?" Alchemy asks. 

"Yes," Wally growls. He's so fucking done with this conversation, and he's done with this entitled asshole. 

“What a waste,” Alchemy says. Wally sees him reach for the stone, and he books it. He runs as fast as he can, and he feels his speed leave him as he reaches the back of the parking lot. He keeps running though, and he runs until he reaches the nearest bus stop and his lungs feel like they might explode.

 

He sits down on one of the benches and calls his dad. Joe answers almost immediately.

“Wally?” he asks. He sounds groggy. He was probably asleep before this.

“Can you please come pick me up?” Wally says, “I’m at the bus stop over by campus.”

“Wally,” he says, “can’t you just run back?” He sounds so tired, and Wally feels bad for waking him up and making him do this.  
  
“My speed’s gone, dad,” he says, which actually hurts to say out loud.

“Oh,” Joe says into the phone.

“Yeah,” Wally says, chuckling.

“I’ll be right there,” Joe promises.

“Thanks dad,” Wally says. Then the line goes dead. Joe gets there in about twenty minutes. 

“Wally, what happened?” he asks.

“Please,” Wally says, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Joe looks like he wants to talk about it, but he doesn’t push it. Wally appreciates that. They don't talk about it in the car, and then when they get back to the house they don't talk about it there. They both fall into bed without talking about it. 

Joe’s left for the precinct by the time that Wally wakes up, and then he goes to class like he always does. He only had his powers for two days, but he still feels bereaved without them. He wants to run so fast that he can’t worry anymore, but he can’t. He has to walk a normal human speed to class, and think about all of the things that he could have done if he got to keep his powers. He tries so hard not to dwell, but it’s so hard. It was something that he wanted desperately, and then he _got_ it. And now he’s had it ripped away. He hopes that physics will take his mind off of it.

Physics doesn’t, and neither does chemistry. He checks his phone between chemistry and English, and is greeted by a text from Cisco.

“come 2 star aftr class, cait wants to test shit” reads the text from Cisco.

Wally just sends back “okay”. He wants to stay late working on a project, but the last two times that he’s done that haven’t worked out too well. He’d much rather just let Caitlin run her tests, which he knows will come back negative. He’s not a speedster anymore, and if doubts if he ever will be.

 

He finally finishes his damn calculus class, and he drives over to S.T.A.R Labs as soon as he gets out. Everyone else is already there. He lets Caitlin run all of the tests that she wants, even though he knows what the results will be.

She looks torn as she tells him, "You aren't a speedster anymore.”  
  
"I know," Wally says.    
  
"Do you know what happened?” Caitlin asks. Wally could lie again. He knows that the truth doesn’t make him look very good, and he doesn’t really want to tell the rest of them that he trusted a man in a creepy mask. But he also thinks that they need to know.

He takes a deep breath, and then he says, "Alchemy gave me those powers.” Caitlin looks concerned, and his dad looks downright terrified.

“Alchemy?” Barry asks.

“Uh, yeah,” he says.

“If he gave you your powers,” Caitlin says, “why don’t you have them anymore?”

“He took them away,” Wally says. It comes out a bit more bitterly than he’d meant it to.

“Why?” Barry asks, “please, Wally. You’ve gotta tell us what you know. We don’t know a thing about this guy.”

“For one thing,” Wally says, “he knows your name.”

“What?” Iris asks, sounding a little bit terrified.

“I didn’t tell him, I swear,” Wally says, a bit too defensively, “he just knew.”

“What did he want you to do?” Joe asks.

“He wanted a mole on the team,” Wally says, “and he wanted me to fight for him, I think. I wasn’t gonna do it, so I didn’t listen to the whole spiel.”

“So,” Joe says, “we still don’t know a damn thing about what this guy wants.”

“Yeah,” Wally says, a little awkwardly. He feels like he should have been able to give them more information. He’s met the guy twice, and he gave and then took away his superspeed. He should know him pretty well, but he doesn’t.

“Wally,” Iris says, “that must have been pretty hard, saying no to him.”

“It was nothing,” Wally lies. Iris smiles at him.  
  
"I'm proud of you," she says. Wally still isn’t used to having a big sister, or a dad, but her words make him feel so much better.  
  
"I am too,” Joe says. His dad puts a hand on his shoulder, and then it turns into a hug.

 

Joe leaves to finish up a case, and Iris claims that she has a story she needs to be working on. It leaves Wally with only Barry, Cisco and Caitlin. Caitlin sighs.   
  
"Barry's the only one here that's had speed and lost it," Caitlin says, "you should talk him through it." Barry nods. Caitlin claims that she has something to do, and Cisco cites "that thing I was going to do at that place" as his reason for leaving. He and Barry both know that they just want to leave the two of them alone. Wally sighs, and Barry doesn't say anything. Until he does, of course.   
  
"I know how much you wanted to be a speedster," Barry says. 

“I did,” Wally says. He can’t lie, but he wasn’t willing to pay that price. They sit in silence for a moment.

"What was it like," Wally says, "in Flashpoint, I mean?" 

“What did Alchemy tell you?” Barry asks.

“Just that I was the Flash,” Wally says. It’s almost physically painful to say that now, now that he’s had speed and had it taken away.

“You were a great hero,” Barry says, a wistful smile on his face, “you and Iris were like a brother-sister crime fighting duo. And you were damn good at it too. You just- you couldn’t beat the Rival.” There’s something in Barry’s voice at the end there that sounds regretful. Wally thinks he knows where this is going.

“What happened after that?” Wally asks, “what happened to me?” Barry sighs.  
  
"You died, Wally," he says. The knowledge hits Wally like a truck. He was the Flash in a world, but it was a world that he _died_ in. And he almost died just a few weeks ago, trying to jumpstart his speed. He probably died doing something just as reckless. Wally knows that he does dangerous shit and he enjoys it. He never really thought that it would do him in though. Maybe that’s the problem.  
  
"Maybe I just wasn't meant to be a speedster," he says. Barry looks uncomfortable. He doesn't know what to say to that without offending him. Barry dpesn't say anything, and Wally doesn't say anything either. The silence becomes awkward, and Wally finally realizes what he wants to do.   
  
"I want to go see Jesse," Wally says. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Barry says, "you're still weak from losing your speed… And emotionally.” Wally knows what Barry’s implying, that seeing his speedster girlfriend is only going to rub salt into the wound. He’s probably right, but Wally wants to see Jesse and he thinks he can get over his jealousy.  
  
"I can handle seeing my girlfriend with speed, okay?" Wally says. Barry shrugs.   
  
"You stood in front of a car once to get your speed," Barry says, "I'm just not sure Jesse's who you want to see right now." The thing is, Jesse is who he always wants to see, after his family, at least. 

"She is," Wally promises. He knows what he wants. 

"Alright," Barry says. They find Cisco, and ask if he's willing to open a breach for the third time in two days. 

“Yeah, sure,” Cisco says.

“Thank you,” Wally says.

“But then I’m trying your earth hopping privileges away for a month,” he says. Wally laughs. He’s not sure if Cisco is serious or not. Even if he is, Wally thinks that he can deal with that, as long as he can _see_ her tonight. If he needs to talk later, then he can call, but he wants to be with her for real tonight.

 

Cisco opens a breach, and Wally walks through it at an average speed. He gets lucky again, and Jesse is already there. Her face lights up when she sees him.  
  
"Wally!" She shouts. She speeds forward, and wraps him up in a hug. She plants a super fast kiss on his lips.   
  
"Race you," she says, wiggling her eyebrows. Then she speeds off so fast that his shirt billows. She comes back a few seconds later, and sends him a confused look.   
  
"What are you doing, slow poke?" She asks.   
  
"I'm not a speedster anymore," he says, rubbing the back of his neck.   
  
"What? How?" She asks. 

“I kind of gave it up,” Wally says. He explains the situation with Alchemy, but he goes into a bit more detail with her. He tells her how powerless he felt when Alchemy first took his powers away, and how nervous he was in that alleyway. He even tells her about what happened in Flashpoint, where he was the Flash ( _Kid Flash_ , he can hear Iris say) and how he died.  
  
"Wally," she says, "I know how much being a speedster meant to you." He looks away.   
  
"It's alright," he says, like he's been saying all day. The truth is, he feels like he lost a limb. He only had his speed for two days, but it feels like a part of him. It feels like a part of him that he'll never get back now.   
  
"It isn't, Wally," she says, "you made a huge sacrifice for everyone."   
  
"It wasn't that big," he lies. It feels like it shouldn't be as big of a deal as it is.   
  
"That makes you a hero," Jesse says. He doesn't feel like a hero. He feels like a guy who just lost what made him special. Jesse somehow knows what he's thinking, like always.   
  
"Some heroes wear capes," Jesse says, "some don't." He laughs a little, but not because it’s funny. More because he’s uncomfortable.  
  
"So who am I then, if I'm not a speedster?" He says. Barry is the Flash. Cisco is Vibe. Caitlin's the amazing doctor. Jesse is Jesse Quick. Wells is the scientist. His dad's the cop, and his sister is the reporter. What does that make him?   
  
"Maybe you're the Peter Parker to my Spider-Woman," she says. Iris has called his masculinity fragile a few times, but Wally isn't put off by the idea of Jesse being a superhero when he isn't. The only part that gets to him is that she gets to be a speedster.   
  
He doesn't want to talk about that now, though, so he says, "Wait, Peter Parker is Spider- _Man_."   
  
"Really?" She says, her face falling, "that analogy works better on my earth."  
  
"I've never seen Spider-Woman," he says. Jesse catches his hint, and they go to watch the movie immediately. They cuddle up on the couch, and Wally tries to forget about the increasing danger on his own earth. For a moment, he's just watching a movie with his long-distance girlfriend. He can deal with the rest of it later.


End file.
